...will he ever win?

This drawing of Tom, at first glance looks very complicated. There are a lot of lines and details and hairs that could possibly distract you from the contruction and logic of the face. Jerry and Tuffy's faces are simple by comparisn - BUT THEY FOLLOW THE SAME LOGIC. Tom is just more detailed than the mice, because his drawing is so much bigger. The bigger your character is on screen, the more

January 06, 2009 12:32 AM

Not every artist or cartoonist has natural appeal. Some , like Freddie Moore and Rod Scribner have naturally appealing styles and can take other people's designs or even generic designs and draw them with great appeal. Since there are so few of these artists who can make almost anything look good, animation developed the concept of having specialists in appeal that we call character designers. A

January 05, 2009 10:05 PM

Lovely illustrations and type design from Jessica Hische.

(via)

January 05, 2009 08:45 PM

Andy Helms draws a dude a day, and I love how he applies his style to various movie franchises, like these Star Wars dudes.

(Thanks, Box Brown!)

January 05, 2009 05:57 PM

17-year-old Fernanda Frick of Chile is making and selling these fantastic-looking flipbooks. Fernanda writes:

Some of the animations are made in flash, one is made in TVPaint studio and the other is made with stopmotion using real fruit (it was really messy…)

January 05, 2009 05:49 PM

James Jean has posted roughly 150 sketchbook images from years past on his site. Happy new year to us!

January 05, 2009 05:43 PM

This comic cover by Harvey Eisenberg shows off every animation cartoon drawing fundamental in beautiful complex balance. It has a composition, great posing, perfect artistic use of negative space, lines of action, opposing poses, overlapping action and one thing more fundamental than all those. It's a good solid drawing.Every now and then I have to go back and remind people that the number 1 most

January 05, 2009 04:22 PM

This is a post about nerd girls. 


Just for contrast here's (above) a girl who's definitely not a nerd. Ditto for the two below. 

You have to wonder what a nerd girl is. Somehow it's a deviation from what's considered normal, like the three women above.

The differences between a nerd face and a normal one are so small that we have trouble putting them into words...I don't think a man from Mars could tell the difference... and yet our brains seem to consider that difference so important that they equip us with instant recognition of it.

I don't think our brains are trying to warn us away, just the opposite. I think the recognition is there to allow us to instantly recognize someone who's non-threatening, intelligent and desirable. Other types of women have good qualities too, but you may have to get to know them before you discover them. The nerd girl is all up front. What you see is what you get, and it's usually pretty good. 

I wish I knew some statistics on nerds. Do nerds girls have fewer children? Do they make good mothers? I wish I knew.  The ones I know who have kids are terrific parents.

Nerd girls are often fiercely loyal to their men, and their men return the favor by being loyal to them. These girls aren't the divorcing type. These are the ones you want to marry. These are the ones who, if you broke your leg in the primeval forest, would stay beside you through the moonless night with dagger drawn to protect you from wolves....and you'd do the same for them. Nerd girls inspire loyalty through example. They improve the men they're with.

 

Are nerd girls beautiful? Ask anyone about Audrey Hepburn, she was one. Some say she was the most beautiful woman ever photographed.  In spite of great beauty she had that vulnerable and fully human quality that so many nerd girls have.

 


Nerds sometimes have thick eyebrows, and so did Audrey. Looks good, doesn't it?

Of course, not all nerds are nice. How about the malicious nerd hackers on the internet? But it's amazing how many good ones there are out there. Most of them, in fact!

 


Nerd characteristics are not distributed equally. Some have only a touch of it (above)...

...and some (above) get it by the bucket full. My hunch is that nerds who have Aspergers fall into this category. You can get too much of a good thing.

Taken all in all, nerd girls are among the most desirable on the planet. If you're a guy, and you're connected to one of these girls, then you know what I'm talking about. It's Heaven on Earth!

January 05, 2009 10:24 AM

Stage One Idea or Action at a time - let it settle in This is a really important point to me. I always tell my artists to not combine a pile of ideas into 1 drawing, because none of them will sink in with the audience. Use a logical progression of ideas and present them one at a time so that people can follow what is happening. This is true for all film and stage and even dance.

January 03, 2009 04:04 PM

Many, many, many, many thanks to M. R Darbyshire for writing in to tell me how to make screen grabs on my computer! I've been playing with it, and it's great! I like it so much that I thought I'd do a whole blog based on screen grabs!

 

Just when I finished Michael's article my wife walked in, so on an impulse I asked her if she'd read something over and over when she was a kid. Without hesitation she said yes...a now-forgotten book called "The Little French Girl," which was 800 pages long. It changed her life. She liked it so much that she even memorized the first shattering sentence, which she recited in a solemn tone with a far away look in her eyes: "I wrenched my leg, so here I am in the living room."  ****** That's it....I-wrenched-my-leg-so-here-I-am-in-the-living-room! After a moment of disbelief, I doubled over laughing and got a withering look of disapproval. I couldn't help it. It reminded me of Cornelia Otis Skinner who bragged that she got a moving personal letter from Hemmingway which, when she finally printed it, turned out to be: "Dear Cornelia, I left my goulashes in your closet." 

I  never heard of Anne Douglas Sedgwick before today, but since her name came up I thought I'd google her. Here she is (above), and here's (also above) a book of hers that you can find in it's entirety on the net. 

On another subject, I got three comments in the past few weeks from readers who think I use caricature reference derived from porn too often. I was also criticized for using women more often than men. I've answered that twice before -- in fact, there's a lengthy answer in the comments to the post below -- but now that I can do screen grabs I can answer pictorially and a picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.



Here's (above) the kind of menu page that I get most of my pictures of women from. There's over 160 portraits on this page, which is frequently updated and contains extensive archives. It's easy to peruse, the pictures are already cropped, and with this many faces on display there's bound to be interesting ones now and then. That's why I use this site and a couple of similar ones. The fact that it's porn is incidental. I'd be delighted to use men's faces too, but I know of no similar face-intensive site for men. 

January 03, 2009 01:16 AM

The posts on staging so far have had to do with the storyboard and layout artists' jobs. The big picture of each scene - composing the background and characters together. The layout artist won't draw every character pose that makes up the animator's performance. The animator has to take the layout and background and then in turn - stage each and every one of his poses so that the whole

January 02, 2009 10:43 PM

Had enough pictures of weird women? With one exception, all these photos are from hairy lady sites that I found through the hairy menu that I mentioned before. Boy, hairy women are an amazing bunch of people! They're all proud, rugged individualists who like to dress and act in ways that set them apart from the rest of the world.



Here's (above) a rarity: a blonde hairy woman, looking very futuristic.  

Two hairy nerd girls (above).

This woman (above) wouldn't get naked so we have to take her word for it that she's hairy. Nice size XXL Daisy-Mae dress!

Not hairy (above), but I've been looking for an excuse to publish this, so here she is! The impression this woman makes is overwhelming! She's wide, green and symmetrical...what a bold graphic statement! Talk about a conversation stopper! 

Another futuristic hairy woman (above).  Actually she's dark-haired. 

Finally, a hairy woman (above) covered with red ants...or are they cherries?

That's it for now, but by the way.......

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 02, 2009 11:34 AM

Who owns the paintings made by a WWII concentration camp prisoner, if those paintings were arguably made as payment for her freedom? The artist? Or the state? Is the art public domain?

This is the decades-old question being asked by artist Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, wife of famed Disney animator Art Babbitt. She saved her own life and her mother’s life essentially by painting portraits of Gypsy prisoners at the behest of Josef Mengele, during their incarceration in Auschwitz. Years later, she moved to Paris and then to California, where she earned a living working for Warner Bros and Jay Ward.

Today, aged 86 and recently suffering from cancer, she is desperate to get these old paintings back.

Below is her impassioned plea on YouTube to the curators of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, who, while they acknowledge that she is the artist who created the paintings, still refuse to relinquish them to her, claiming they are the property of the state.

This story was also covered over at Animation Artist two years ago, and more recently on CBC’s The Current (where I just learned about it this evening). Here are parts one and two of that interview, about 50 minutes long in total, and quite powerful. Below this, some reproductions of these paintings.

January 02, 2009 06:23 AM

Look at the pictures small. If there is an obvious shape to the overall page, and you can still see what the composition is focusing on, then you probably have good staging.

January 01, 2009 08:06 PM

Staging For Mood: This little paragraph is part of Disney's staging article. They don't say much about it and go right into another aspect of staging. I'm just including it here to be complete. Disney cartoons were great at creating moods of all types, not just with staging, but with color, music, cutting, special effects and whatever creative tricks they could come up with. To me it

January 01, 2009 06:50 PM

When Disney animators and fans think of "appeal" they tend to think about this kind of stuff, cuteseypie sissypants smooth tasteless stuff that's aimed at infants, moms, Cal Arts animators and adults who choose alternative lifestyles. Disney Cute Cal Arts Cute This is the modern descendent of Disney "appeal". It's not at all based on any true human feelings or experiences. It's merely

December 31, 2008 04:39 PM

Disney artist, Stef Kardos, is posting iPhone sketches to his Flickr page.

The miniature digital paintings were done on-site using the Brushes iPhone app.

I wasn’t convinced the iPhone would be a useful sketching tool until I saw these.

Here’s a video demo of the app in action from David Onze:

December 31, 2008 03:30 AM

Anyone is welcome if you have the time, you just need to RSVP

December 30, 2008 11:36 PM

These reenactments of Gary Larson’s The Far Side on Flickr are worth a chuckle or two. Make your own!

(via)

December 30, 2008 11:24 PM

Enjoy this stunning piece of pixillation made with 300,000 candles:Happy New Year by Electrebel.

There is also a making-of video at that link, but it is in French with German Dutch subtitles. Still worth watching, tho!

Happy new year!

December 30, 2008 10:11 PM

JibJab’s latest year in review is my favourite yet, due mostly in part to the aesthetic spin they’ve put on their famous collage-style animation. The illustrative, slightly photocopied-and-cut-out look is gorgeous.

December 30, 2008 09:51 PM

Apart from the Prozac, watching Martin Pickles’s Like Me, Only Better is like looking in a mirror. A horrible, horrible (yet hilarious) mirror.

December 30, 2008 09:37 PM

Mel Stringer has been creating this really great series of portraits. She happily takes commissions, too, if you want to get your own created. I liked them so much, I asked her to create one of me. Oh dear, is that what I look like?

December 30, 2008 09:24 PM

Kelly has bravely asked for a critique of a drawing. She is starting to use some classic principles which is good. Here are some tips to get them to work together. from Kelly: Here are a couple of concept drawings I did to bid for a children's book illustration job. Take a Look. I tried very hard to keep my negative spaces interesting, asymmetrical, and to use balance in my designs, and make it

December 30, 2008 06:55 PM

Smashing Magazine has posted a list (and accompanying video) of 30 Unforgettable Movie Opening Sequences. Here are just two of my favourites:

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (by Saul Bass):

Dr. Strangelove (featuring lettering by Pablo Ferro:

(via Motionographer)

Related links:
Saul Bass Kicks Ass
Pablo Ferro (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Typography)
If Saul Bass did the titles for Star Wars

December 30, 2008 03:46 PM

My storywriter friend Nykko just opened an official french blog concerning the Elsewhere Chronicles (international name for "les Enfants d'ailleurs"). You'll find there sketches, drawings, previous unreleased materials, news, and a "behind the scenes" of the making of book 4 (due for November 2009 in France). You'll find it HERE. ...

December 30, 2008 10:50 AM

Right now I'm reading one of my Christmas presents: "Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost It's Empire and the West Lost the World." My kid got it for me, doubtless because I'd just finished a favorable book about Churchill, and was always talking about him at dinner.  It was written by Pat Buchanan, a conservative who fell out of favor with other conservatives because he failed to endorse any of our recent wars. I have no way of knowing if the book is accurate or not, but it's definitely interesting. 

What the book alleges is, that Britain was just as responsible as Germany for World War l, and that Britain's alliance with Poland before WWII forced Hitler to turn West instead of East, with dangerous consequences that we're still living with today. He blames Churchill for being a promoter of both wars, which were disastrous for Britain. The book also speculates on the cause of wars generally.

If what it says is true, the book confirms my own belief about the cause of wars, which is that cultural misunderstandings have nothing to do with it. War happens because dominant countries can't bring themselves to accept the new strength and influence of emerging ones. The emergent countries, feeling that the rules are stacked against them, get itchy and gradually begin to suspect that the big guy on the block is a paper tiger. They're tempted by his supposed weakness to risk a confrontation. Both sides believe they can fight a limited war with the other, and quickly arrive at an advantageous settlement, but it doesn't always turn out that way. Sounds like WWI doesn't it?

According to the book, WWI was the result of Germany's emergent economic and military influence in Europe, and Britain's efforts to contain it through military alliances with Germany's neighbors. The Germans paniced at having so many potentially hostile neighbors. Both sides, but especially Britain and Churchill, started thinking about a pre-emptive war. Eventually they realized the folly of that (not Churchill, but the others), and both sides tried mightily to stop it, but it was too late. A vast network of complicated deals and alliances, and all sorts of mobilizations that were only intended to be negotiating ploys, insured that the least little disturbance would cause the whole thing to explode, which of course it did.

WWI ended with an armistice, but the final treaty wasn't signed til months later. The treaty parceled out big chunks of Germany to other countries and required enormous indemnities and one-sided trade agreements. The Germans dragged their feet about signing so the allies brutally starved them into submission. An American general begged the president to bring the occupation soldiers home because seeing that kind of suffering on the streets every day was ruining the morale of his men. Eventually the new German government signed, but by doing so it lost the support of the German people who believed they were badly used.

This (above) is the way Germany looked in 1918; a smaller country.

The book blames WWII on Hitler of course, but it also criticizes Britain for making a guarantee to Poland that it had no way of implementing. Britain had a pathetically small and badly equipped army, and should never have made a guarantee that it couldn't back up. The Poles, believing that Britain had their back, refused to even negotiate with Hitler, and he invaded. The question arises, why did Britain make such a disastrous alliance? It would have been better for Britain if Hitler had neutralized or absorbed Poland then turned against Stalin...let the two totalitarian powers waste their strength fighting each other. Why distract Hitler from his avowed pre-occupation with fighting Russia?

The answer, according to the book, is Churchill, who badgered Chamberlain into making what he (Churchill) considered a show of strength. Poor Chamberlain was hearing different advice from every direction and no doubt wished he could run away to another planet. It would have been better for everybody if he had, but an admission of helplessness would have been disastrous for his party at the poles so, wishing to appear decisive, he finally succumbed to Churchill. He not only made empty commitments to the Poles, but to other countries as well. His decision to turn Hitler away from Russia for the time being saved Stalin's regime and made war in Western Europe inevitable.

Here's (above) present day Germany; even smaller than it was in 1918. 

What was Churchill thinking? I don't know. I'm only half finished the book and haven't gotten to that part yet. I've heard that Churchill's public speeches are somewhat contradictory and his memoirs convey a consistency of thought that he may not have really had. It's hard to believe that Churchill really thought the Polish guarantee would would deter Hitler. Maybe Churchill was put off by the human cost of a Russian-German war. Maybe (my own guess) Churchill wanted to retain Russia intact as a counterbalance to Japan, which he may have thought was a danger to India. I don't know. I shouldn't speculate til I know more.

December 30, 2008 09:14 AM

Flat designs that are extra stylized can pose a problem for layout artists. If they get too flat or wonky, then all the individual design elements tend to veer off into their own planes and directions. This makes it hard to get an organic hierarchical warm composition. When I was around 8 or so, Hawley Pratt and Al White's Hanna Barbera Golden Books were my favorites. I loved the design of the HB

December 30, 2008 06:28 AM

Seasonal Short from Trevor Van Meter on Vimeo.

Oh no, is it too late for a piece of seasonal holiday animation? I don’t care, because I simply adore this short from one of my favourite creative minds, Trevor Van Meter. And I think you’ll adore it, too.

Related:
Fun animated game: Crappy Cat
Trevor Van Meter
VanBeater
Somewhere Between Punk Rock and Lollipops

December 30, 2008 01:35 AM

Enjoy what illustrator S.britt refers to as a “blow-by-blow” of a recent commercial illustration job. On Flickr he has posted the various stages of the job from the client’s initial sketches to the final pieces. Great stuff as always!

Previously:
S.britt’s New Doodle Room
S.britt B.logs
S.britt

December 30, 2008 01:21 AM

Billy Mavreas has scanned in several American joke book cover illustrations from 1905, published by Wheman Bros. of NY. Says Billy:

I think they rock. The line work is reminiscent of 60s undergrounds. But i must warn all viewers, some are blatantly racist/offensive.

December 30, 2008 01:13 AM

I enjoyed the first FOT short from New Zealand animator Alex Dron (previously blogged here), but this trailer for the next short, The Next Big Thing, is pretty great. Flight of the Conchords fans may recognize the voice of Rhys Darby, aka Murray.

December 30, 2008 01:06 AM

There were a lot of good comments yesterday. Nate Bear especially made the points that I was focusing on.The main difference to me between that Flintstone staging and the Bambi staging is that one is merely functional and the other is planned artistically. In the Bambi picture, the whole layout is not only clear and easy to read, but the staging tself has been turned into part of the visual

December 29, 2008 10:04 PM

the rest of the party

December 29, 2008 03:34 AM

What's the difference between these 2 approaches?

December 29, 2008 02:40 AM

Travis' Warforged

December 28, 2008 08:34 PM

AAAARGH! I meant to put up a post defending Christmas! I even wrote most of it last night, but I decided to sit on it for a day and I'm glad I did. It came off so smug and sanctimonious! There's no use accusing someone else of being a curmudgeon if I come off that way myself. I'll post it later when I've had a chance to tinker with it. Meanwhile, take a look at Jenny's defense of the holiday, which is worth reading and is as good or better than what I would have put up. It's in the comments to the post below.

That left me with an unexpected void to fill. No problem. I just dialed up my face sites and harvested a new crop of faces. If you're an artist like I am then you'll realize how valuable these pictures are for caricature practice; they're a cartoonist's dream! In putting them up I found myself making imaginary names for them, names that really fit the way they look. I'll bet I did a better job of naming these people than their parents did! I think I'll share these names with you, and if you think you could have done better, let me know. 

Ok, this woman (above) is whimsical and wears a badly fitting wig. She seems nice enough. Maybe she's a homebody. I'd say her name is...mmm....Parsnip! Mary Lou Parsnippeeler!

Hmmmm....the girl above has a wedge-shaped face, high cheekbones, interesting lips and big breasts.  She looks kind of worldly. Maybe a bit manly. I'd say that adds up to...to....let me see ...Bonebreast ....Ralphina Bonebreast!

Holy Cow! Sultry, bedroom eyes, but still kind of innocent. Maybe she's Southern. Maybe she likes a drink now and then. Maybe she shares it with Ned, the hired hand who has a shack on the edge of the bayou.... I'd say this girl (above) is...oooh....how about Jezebel? Jezebel Swamp Whiskey!

Nothing about this girl (above) fits. The yellow clothes seem like they were selected at random and assembled by someone in a hurry. Randoma Buttercup?

 


This one (above) is easy....Betina Biteyourface Nailscratcher.

Latisha Biteneck (above).

Another easy one (above) because she looks like a famous actor...Kirkla Douglasina

Wow! What a challenge! This girl (above) has a square face and a prominent jaw. Could you accept...errrr...Man, this is hard.....ummm.....Boxylace....Britola Boxylace!

Brightwhite Whitewhite?

Tangerina CurlyBreast?


OK, the last one's a guy, and guys are easy.....Olivesucker...Olivesucker Tweedbeak!

December 28, 2008 10:06 AM

Brad's Dragonborn,

December 28, 2008 02:28 AM

This establishing shot of Mickey lets us know what is happening in the whole scene. All the elements of the scene are carefully arranged so we can see each important point in one shot. Main point: They are playing pin the tail on the donkey (Pluto). 2nd point: Mickey is blindbolding a clone. This is the focus of the scene. Everything else is framed around this acton. 3rd point: More clones are

December 28, 2008 12:37 AM

Next semester begins Jan 5th 2009
Spaces available

December 27, 2008 01:00 AM

Here's hoping all you curmudgeons have a wonderful Christmas! If you're lucky, maybe you'll  get a nice doll in your stocking like this. Or if you're even luckier... Thanks to Frank for the lovely photos. HOW CHRISTMAS COULD HAVE BEENEp09-Good Cheer From Pontiac We open on a stage with the curtains closed. "PONTIAC PLAYHOUSE" is printed on the curtains: Narrator: "AND NOW, FROM

December 25, 2008 06:39 PM

GEORGE LIQUOR T SHIRTS BRING YULETIDE SPIRIT Yay For Cartoon Geeks - Sody Pop Shirt" title="Yay For Cartoon Geeks - Sody Pop Shirt" border="0" height="300" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="248"> LOST SPUMCO TOYS FROM THE FUTURE! http://rfxtoys.com/ These toys were made in the far future and transported back to our secret warehouse in Texas, where

December 25, 2008 07:20 AM

There are 2 basic types of cartoonists, each exemplified by the illustrations above. The one on the left is by T.S. Sullivant, the one on the right by Milt Gross. Almost every cartoonist since the early days has a style based on a variation of one of these, or some combination of the 2. CARICATURE or CONSERVATIVE CARTOONS T.S. Sullivant represents the kind of cartooning that is based on

December 24, 2008 06:23 PM

Do you think this is ugly? I'm sure Frank and Ollie would. I don't. I think it's immensely appealing. Don't look at the itchy details. Look at the shapes that make up the whole image. I broke them down into their construction up here. Although there are many itchy artists who preceded and followed Basil Wolverton, many artists can get lost in the details that obscure what's more

December 24, 2008 06:17 PM

Boy, there sure are a lot of curmudgeons (above) out there! The whole idea of Christmas infuriates them!



Curmudgeons are organizing (above)! One of my favorite Christmas pastimes used to be needling curmudgeons and trying to make them feel guilty, but It's getting hard to do that now. They're fighting back. I read in a magazine that they even wear buttons with sayings like, "I'm not cheap, I'm principled!"



They circulate weird Christmas cards with pictures of armed animals, who intend to shoot down Santa.



Geez, poor Santa's going to have a rough time getting through this year.



Well, I'm going to celebrate Christmas just as I always do: with food, presents, and a cultivated air of smug moral superiority that'll make my curmudgeon friends grind their teeth.

Today I considered making a curmudgeon Christmas tree as a gift for these friends. It would be an artificial tree painted black with ornaments consisting of dead fish or pictures of Scrooge kicking orphans. Aaaargh! It's too late. Maybe next year!



I have a Santa Claus costume in the closet. Let me tell you, as soon as you put that thing on, you become a chick magnate!



I think I'll experiment this Christmas. Maybe I'll try a bottomless tree (above).

No, I need something more hip than that.



This (above) one's too hip...too much trouble.

Ah, now THIS (above) is a do-able hip tree! Tinker toys make great trees!

While I was looking for a picture of a Tinkertoy tree, I stumbled on this photo(above). Believe it or not, this (above) is Wilbur and Orville Wright's Christmas tree, dating from 1900, only a few years before the famous flight. The tree is the kind of tall, sparse, fragrant evergreen that was popular up until recent times when the full, bushy look took over. Look at the presents! I notice that bundles are more common than boxes, and the wrappings are plain...no fancy wrapping paper!

Here's (above) a detail of the picture above. Click to enlarge. I think I see a small rifle back there, and some doll house furniture and a tiny tea set. Are there candles on the tree? I can't see.

Before long I stumbled on another tree picture (above), this one from the 30s. This one looks like the kind my dad said he played under when he was a kid. Notice the big, metal electric trains with bridges and out-of-scale little houses and fences. The big trains were great because they were heavy and didn't jump off off the tracks all the time like the light ones do now. You could also cram a lot of toy soldiers into them. Then as now, Christmas and war toys just naturally went together.

I think the electric lights on the tree were the big bulb kind that are only used for outdoor lighting now. If there's tinsel, it's probably the vertical icicle variety. I like modern Christmas trees. They're thick and bushy the way artists like to draw them. They're not fragrant, which is a shame, but they do look friendly and cozy, and they work well with small indoor lights.



Well, enough goofing off! It's time to get back to cleaning the house for Christmas... but don't go yet! I have presents for everybody! I have to warn you that these are pretty primitive presents...actually, downright lame is what they are. They're tricks for fooling little kids! Watch the videos then find a kid and try them out!

December 24, 2008 10:33 AM

I may have written about this before, I'm not sure. Oh well, if I did I think you'll find the subject worth returning to. This is my family's favorite Christmas picture book: "Santa Claus and His Elves," written and illustrated by a Finnish author, Mauri Kunnas.


My kids like the story; me, I like the pictures of the wooden furniture.  Check out this kid's desk (click to enlarge). I love the proportions: wide and low with a beautiful blue stain on what's probably pine wood. Pine is an under-rated wood, though in real life I'd prefer a heavier wood (or maybe a thicker slab of pine) for the top. The bookshelf, bed and rug are also worth looking at. They're simple and elegant, very cozy, and the shapes and volumes work together very nicely. In real life this would make a great kids or guest room.

More of that stained wood again (above). Is stain really a practical preservative? It sure looks nice. I like the way the elves live in such close proximity, yet seem to have no trouble getting along. This book is a Utopian vision showing craftsman who all like to live and work together.

 


Here's (above) a detail from a long picture showing the elves eating dinner at the end of a long work day. That stove/hearth is beautiful!

 


You'd think yellow-stained furniture (above) would be too bright, but I'll bet in real life this muted yellow would work just fine.

December 22, 2008 04:38 AM

sorry about not posting everyone's comments till today I was flying home last night and then I came back and discovered no internet at the house there were 2 comments I didn't post because they are full of obscenities. I'll blank out the nasty parts and post them when my internet is working again. By the way, I may do a post on Basil Wolverton - who may have inspired a lot of the itchiness of

December 21, 2008 08:02 PM

Chris Onstad, the artist and writer behind the hugely popular webcomic, Achewood, is interviewed in the Authors @ Google series. They talk about writing, monetization, parenthood, and Onstad’s new book, The Great Outdoor Fight.

December 20, 2008 11:21 PM

My 3rd edition print run of my first book the "Art of Silver" just came out. For those of you who already have a copy of the 1st and 2nd addition this is the same book, it just has an additional 16 pages and new cover. For those of you who don't have the book, well it's just a bonus, the same price and 16 new pages added. You can order through my website @ www.silvertoons.com or just click on the books to the left and I will sign it for you, if you would like it personalized, please express so in the paypal comments.

Cheers!
Silver

December 20, 2008 07:05 PM

Lumpy Out Of Ignorance In the 40s ,every studio tried to do the Disney/WB construction style of animation drawing. Not everyone understood it though. If you can't already draw well and you see a construction model from the 40s, you will assume that a cartoon character is made up of sausage like forms, but you won't see how they properly connect to each other - as in these models from Dave

December 20, 2008 02:49 PM

If a depression is in our future, what kind of media will the public demand? My guess is something flamboyant and cathartic, something that'll focus our attention on other people's problems rather than our own...maybe the same kind of story that caught on in the last depression, maybe something gruesome and stylized with lots of action, something like...like the pulps!

If that's the case, then this crisis has a silver lining. The pulps were great! The covers alone were worth the price, and the writing was sometimes surprisingly good. Even the names of the stories were great: how do you like (above)"The Mole Men Want Your Eyes"?

Here's (below) an excerpt from a gangster story. An odd man walks into a diner and has a cup of coffee. When it's time to go...

He stood up unsteadily while his right hand
went to his pocket and came out clutching a dime.
He spun it on the marble counter in the direction of
the pockmarked waiter.
“It’s all I have,” he said sort of cheerfully. “But
I won’t be needing more where I’m going,” he
added.
Then he turned about and faced the front, drew
in a deep breath, threw out his chest, set his mouth
in a grim, thin line and made for the door with eyes
fixed straight ahead.
“Good-by,” he said, as he strode out into the
darkness of the deserted street, still erect, still with
perfect control.
“Good-by,” the waiter repeated dazedly, simply
because he could think of nothing better to say.

HE cold sweat beads stood out lividly on the
Kid’s pasty forehead now. His teeth crunched
and his knees began to tremble just as he stepped
over the threshold and down the single step to the
sidewalk.
The waiter turned his head away and closed his
eyes.
Rat a-tat-tat! Trr-r-r-r-r-r!
A screaming fusillade of sub-machine-gun slugs
splattered against the brick front of the Coffee Pot,
ricocheted off the walls and crashed the plate glass
windows with shattering impact.



Black Mask (above) was for pulp readers with a literary bent.

Here's (below) a story about the Yellow Peril, something that pulps were obsessed with. Here a female Chinese torturer is taken by surprise when the soldier of fortune manages to slip out of his restraints:

The torture-woman backed away, her features
suddenly pale. Shevlin sprang at her. She leaped
backward—
Leaped backward, and crashed full against the vat
of molten lead! It overturned on its stand. The half-
caste woman shrieked in sudden agony as the liquid,
white-hot metal cascaded over the sides of the tottering
vat and ate into her yellow flesh.... She swayed,
staggered, grasped at the sides of the vat to steady
herself. Then, as she toppled to the floor, she pulled
the huge pot of molten metal crashing over on her.
Bubbling molten lead streamed thickly over the
woman’s unclad body in a fiery Niagara of death!
But Tate Shevlin was not looking. He had flung
himself toward the rack upon which the Golden Girl
was bound. Now he slashed at her bonds with his knife.
The leather thongs parted. He started to lift her—
“One more move and I’ll shoot you where you
stand, dog!” a harsh voice snarled from the doorway.
Shevlin whirled—and stared into the muzzle of an
automatic in the hands of General Wu Shang!

Sometimes even the manly adventure pulps ran humorous stories (below):

What a mess for a guy like him to get in, he
thought to himself as he peered at the faint
outlines of the girls’ almost totally unclothed
bodies. Three girls! And he alone with them!
But it wasn’t his fault. The night before
when the gambling ship on which Tuffy worked
as deckhand had been raided by government
officials off the coast of California, he had
suddenly found himself pushed into the boat
with the three girls and told to stay out of sight
while the raid was on.
For an hour they had crouched in silence a
few feet away from the ship. Then, before their
startled eyes, the boat had pulled up anchor and
slipped off into the darkness. They had been
forgotten or deserted, one of the two. It didn’t
matter which.
And here they were, Tuffy Scott, with a
black stubble of beard on his roughly handsome
face, and three blonde girls in dance outfits
consisting of tiny red silk panties.

You have to like men. We're such simple creatures. Give us a story with three naked women on a raft with one man and we're happy. 

Men like weird anamalies too. Here's a paragraph from a story (below) about a murderous bag lady. She decides to bump off another bag lady who's carrying her hard-won life savings in the lining of her coat. In the shadows of a big city alley the two fight it out. Here's (below) how the author describes the motivation of the murderer:

"Annie wanted that money! She was determined
to have it, no matter what the cost. She vaguely
realized she was young no longer. Being ugly in the
bargain made it difficult to make the man she loved
notice her, not to talk of his falling for her. She was
crazy about Joe Thompson who hung around Mick’s
Poolroom Parlor all the time. There was only one
way to make that guy and keep him . . . with money!
If there was enough of it, who knows? He might
even get to marry her. She’d hook him, one way or
the other. All she needed was money and a couple of
gladrags."



Here's (above) a scene I'd love to do in animation: A robotic salt-shaker chicken  runs off with a girl, and is pursued by futuristic motorcycle police across a golf course...the audience would love it! 

December 20, 2008 08:54 AM

Last week one of my relatives lost her fight with cancer, she was only 50 years old, leaving behind her husband and two kids.
After attending her funeral and realizing how short we are on this earth for I wrote this.

TODAY

Simplify just one thing TODAY
How can you make your life great TODAY
Play something that will make you laugh TODAY
Say hello to someone you don’t know TODAY
Call that person that has been on your mind TODAY
Draw that sketch that was on your mind TODAY
Eat something good TODAY
Help someone you don’t know TODAY
Hug your wife ,kids, and pets TODAY
Begin that project you’ve been holding off TODAY
Try something new TODAY
Smile TODAY
Be grateful TODAY
Appreciate TODAY
Enjoy TODAY because it is TODAY, for their may not be a tomorrow.

By
Stephen Silver

December 19, 2008 08:26 PM

I'm guessing this is Kahl, but am not 100% sure. The drawings are very solid (like McKimson) but have more elaborate design details than WB characters. The drawings aim at doing all the acting while remaining appealing - cute that is. Having to remain cute at all times can be somewhat of a handicap when it comes to acting. The motion and control in these scenes is amazing. Ultra smooth. Lots of

December 19, 2008 01:51 PM

By Saxton Freymann who has several books full of his awesome anthropomorphic food sculputures - such as Fast Food, Food for Thought, and How are you Peeling?

The above sculpture is from his book, Food Play.

December 18, 2008 09:39 PM

Since stage plays seem to look better on film, I sometimes wonder if I'm going to see the end of live theater in my lifetime. Film has so many assets that theater doesn't have: terrific sound and lighting, and the ability to enhance the story with cuts, tracking shots and close-ups. Live theater just can't compete. It's sad to think that even stories that were written exclusively for the stage seem to play better on the screen.

Here's (above) a scene from the film version of Sherwood Anderson's play, "The Bad Seed." Below is a clip from the same part of the play, filmed off the live stage. See which you prefer.

So what can be done? The space problem is easy to solve: build smaller stages. Have fewer seats in the auditorium. Make the theater experience more intimate. Architects will hate this, because long, sweeping stages are a treat for the eye, but they hinder what's playing on the stage, so they really need to go.

The sound problem is more difficult. Obviously electronic enhancement is a good idea if it's understated, but how to you compete with film where the sound is positively beautiful sometimes? Good acoustics help, but only high-end theaters can afford it. What's the answer? Can live theater ever compete with film? I don't know, but I'll take a stab at an answer.

Let's look at what live theater does better. If you've ever watched live ballet from good seats you know that live classical dance beats film dance hands down. The thumps on the floorboards, the sweat on the dancers, etc. actually gives the dancers more presence. There's a heightened sense of vulnerability and risk that you don't get in film. Magic looks a hundred times better live, and so does burlesque. I've only seen one classic burlesque show in my whole life, but it was unforgettable. Based on the imitation live performance in the beginning of Olivier's Henry V, I imagine that Shakespeare can work as good live if you have the right actors. 

Not only that, but no film projection theater I've ever seen can match the beauty of the stage theater. You don't have to go to the Paris Opera to see beautiful stage settings, even a tiny stage theater like the one in the Golden Horseshoe Saloon in Disneyland L.A. beats most of what you're likely to see in movie houses, even in the best restored theaters.



One of the best times I've ever had in live theater occurred in a tiny, cheapo lunch theater in Soho in London. I sat there in a cramped space among other tables eating a cheap bangers and mash lunch, and I wondered where the stage was. Suddenly the lights dimmed and from behind a curtain came an earnest-looking actor shouting lines from Pinter or someone like that. It was a one act, one-man play, and he pulled it off beautifully, even though he had to brush the tables to do it. He didn't seem to mind if we ate while he was talking. It was magical! Only a few movie experiences I've had could match it, and I don't even like Pinter.

I'll bet someone more familiar with live theater than I am could inventory a lot of theater effects that could beat the same thing on film. In my opinion theater needs to concentrate on areas where it can emphasize its strengths. I don't mean theater should feature only dancing magic burlesque shows that you can watch while eating fries...I had in mind something more like...well, you know what I mean. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--==

I should end here, but I can't resist a quick digression to other topics:



Thanks to Gabe Swaar, ace artist and creator of Dumm Comics, for this Claymation short by Will Vinton. Gabe says Will makes the kind of expressions I make, only he makes them in clay. He says the bell with all the weird expressions even looks like me! It's a co-incidence I'm sure, but one worth seeing if you're familiar with the kind of stuff I do. Check it out!



I'll also mention that Charles Brubaker just posted an interview with me on his "Baker's Baked" blog. Charles has lots of interviews with print cartoonists on there, and he manages to ask interesting questions. He got me to talk about outsourcing and what it was like to be in the studio when Nick took Ren & Stimpy away. Take a look!

December 18, 2008 09:21 PM

A gallery of 100 cereal box covers. When I was a kid my mom never let me go near most of these brands.

Also of interest:
Cereal Killers
Cereal Box Art

December 18, 2008 07:36 PM

Here's something that's just plain funny and universal.Solid drawings, great staging, appealing (in a manly way) and speaks to real humanity. To make big hits stronger, you gotta use really big antics and leave them on long enough to build up power before the actual contact which barely registers onscreen. This is so well thought out and aims solely to give the audience the biggest

December 18, 2008 04:41 PM

Next semester begins Jan 5th 2009
Spaces available

December 17, 2008 10:52 PM

I recently did some christmas cards for the comedian Jeff Dunham. It was pretty fun, I did my initial rough takes on them and he liked them like that. Super nice guy and funny, you can see his videos on youtube. And if you like you can order the x-mas cards off his site.

December 17, 2008 10:42 PM

Thanks everyone for the meaty comments! Some things I expected and a few surprises. I wrote my own theories below each style for you to argue with. Here's your reward for participating in the subjectivity quiz. 1 Kookie I think this is very appealing. Instantly caught my eye. It's great drawing on every level. It's designed and stylish all the way from the composition down to the details. It

December 17, 2008 09:03 PM

Check out the beautiful work that illustrator Jon Klassen did for RBC’s Blue Water Project (video courtesy Motionographer). You can read some insight into the project on Jon’s blog. A quote:

Rich Scurry was the creative director on it. Him and the other people over at Convert did an insane compositing job on this - a lot of it was done with 3D programs to give it a little extra breathing room, and the particle effects go a long way towards softening up the harder shapes. It’s a bit of a gamble putting flat, graphic stuff into motion, cause it can look really really awful if the compositing and timing is bad, but when its good, its so fun to watch.

And boy, what fun I had watching it. The illustrations that Jon did are simply gorgeous. Wonderfully textured and layered environments that long to be looked at and enjoyed for extensive amounts of time. Be sure to check out some of Jon’s other work at his site, Burst of Beaden.

December 17, 2008 05:24 PM

Instead of typical Christmas card iconography (trees, Santa, angels, etc.) illustrator Brandon Dawley decided to go pre-Christian Alpine and use a character not familiar by most: the Krampus. His words:

In 19th Century Germany, legend had it that those who were pure of heart bore witness to the magic of Christmas Eve. St. Nikolaus would drift in on the cloak of night, leaving gifts and treats for the girls and boys who’ve been goldenly good all year. Children of goodwill springing from their bed to find a surprise of joy to fill the air.

Disobedient children, however, would awake to shakes and shivers. Terrorized by the thought of another visitor in the night. For those who have behaved badly are paid a visit by. . .
the KRAMPUS.

The traditional event looks incredibly horrifying, in a good way. Nothing like scarring the children for life, just so they’ll be obedient during the holidays. Gotta love that.

December 17, 2008 05:23 PM

I almost don’t know what to make of this short film promoting Spanish cartoonist Juan Berrio’s newest book Calles Contadas. The shots of the printing press are slightly hypnotic, but even if you find them a little dry (but who could, with that music?) stick with it for the brilliant animated bits.

You can see more of Juan Berrio’s work at his blog (which I just now subscribed to) or on his website.

December 17, 2008 03:24 AM

Allow me to pick my jaw up off of the floor and present the typographic paper illustrations of Yulia Brodskaya.

December 17, 2008 03:06 AM

Illustrator Jonathan Burton’s process blog, The Unreachable Itch, has some outstanding examples of his illustrations paired with their preliminary sketches.

Previously: Jonathan Burton

December 17, 2008 02:58 AM

I just wrapped up painting on the big climactic battle sequence of Amulet 2 (a 60-page action scene), so now we have only a small handful of pages left to paint.  After that, it's all adjustments and repainting panels down the final stretch.  Amy took a few photos of us working at the studio during the final weeks of production.  Better scheduling and better production methods are keeping us from having to pull a lot of all-nighters like the old days.  Hopefully, I won't have to revert to those methods for the final few weeks.

Scholastic posted an interview I did with them at the Book Expo of America earlier this year.  You can also find some good interviews with other authors like Jeff Smith and Shaun Tan, who are among my favorite artists.

December 16, 2008 10:59 PM

There are different cliques of animators and cartoonists, each of who have learned a handful of eye shapes and expressions. There are Disney eyes, Cal Arts eyes, Prime Time eyes, Anime eyes, Deviant-Art eyes etc. There are imitation-Spumco eyes. Thanks to Paul B for this Disney eye-sheet! Each of these sets of eye expressions is extremely limiting. They don't allow for spontaneous invention.

December 16, 2008 04:48 PM

I saw this on Swiss Miss and had to share it here: the work of Olivier Tallec.

December 16, 2008 12:48 AM

There’s a good chance you’ve never seen a kaleidoscope quite like this one. It’s the work of Körner Union.

December 16, 2008 12:44 AM

Dustin Harbin has a swanky new website complete with a proper collection of his work, and a shiny new blog. If you’ve never seen Dustin’s work before, he’s a stellar cartoonist, and a heck of a nice guy to boot. Be sure, too, to check out his jam comic memoirs on Flickr: Aufauxbiography.

December 16, 2008 12:33 AM

Interesting interview with Sol Sender